May 1, 2023
Today we set foot on shore in our second stop in Ireland, a port called Cobh (cove) this is Town of 12000 located on an island in the Cork City harbour . Cork itself has a population of 240K and is the second largest City in Ireland. Many large international companies have set up factories here, like Johnson & Johnson, Phizer and many IT companies. Apple has its European head quarters here which employs around 3000. Ford motor Company used to have a large factory in Cork, but it has closed down. For today we booked a trip to the old Jameson distillery in Middleton, a city about 10 miles outside of Cork. On the drive to Middleton we enjoyed the green pastures filled with grazing dairy cows and cultivated potato fields. Soon after arrival at the old distillery we were lead on a tour through the factory which dated back to the 17th century. No whiskey is produced in this old distillery, it is still used to store barrels for the curing process. After the tour we enjoyed some samples in the tasting room.After the tasting we boarded the bus for a drive through the City of Cork back to Cobh, where the ship is located. In the afternoon we walked over to the Titanic memorial gardens.Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic before it’s journey to New York. And we all know how that ended. From the passengers the Titanic picked up in Cobh ,74 died at sea and their names are displayed at the memorial gardens. Throughout History nearly 3 million Irish immigrants boarded ships in Cobh for a better life in the USA and Canada. The population of Ireland actually shrunk from nearly 8 million to around 4.5 million. Now the population is back up to just over 5 million. After the visit at the gardens we walked back down towards the ship. On this sunny spring day, the streets were filled with people enjoying the holiday Monday. There was a market set up in the park and music was coming from several pubs who were located across the street from the market. When it was time to sail out the harbour, a musical orchestra which was set up on the pier belted out tunes to wish us a safe voyage. I am looking forward to a couple of seaday’s after the previous four ports in a row before we set foot on the Azores.
Cheers
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